Sony has announced that it will introduce the CFast memory card format to its professional range in the first quarter of next year, and odd and exciting move when you consider that CFast 2.0 competes directly with the XQD card format Sony helped pioneer.

The series will launch with three memory cards that boast maximum read and write speeds of 530MB/s and 510MB/s, respectively. These G-series cards will be aimed at cinematographers and those shooting high bit-rate video, as well as stills photographers working with high frame rate cameras like the Canon 1DX Mark II.

As mentioned above, the cards boast a maximum write speed of 510MB/s, but more importantly they also guarantee a minimum sustained write speed of 130MB/s under the Video Performance Guarantee. This helps to ensure cards do not force cameras to stop recording during lengthy sequences.

And since pros need their cards to be sturdy as well as fast, Sony says the new CFast cards have been carefully tested for drop, vibration, shock resistance and rigidity, and states that they work in a wide range of temperatures and are highly resistant to static.

The cards will be available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities for $120, $200, and $350, respectively. For more information, read the full release below or visit the Sony website.

Press Release

Sony completes Pro memory card line-up with new CFast range

November 28, 2017 – Sony is launching a range of high performance CFast memory cards, which are designed to meet the needs of professional photographers and videographers. The G Series CFast 2.0 memory cards will be available in 32GB (CAT-G32), 64GB (CAT-G64) and 128GB (CAT-G128) capacities, responding to the ever increasing capabilities of high-end DSLR and 4K cinema-grade broadcast cameras. The cards offer lightning-fast write speeds of up to 510MB/s and read speeds of up to 530MB/s and join an established range of media that includes Professional internal SSDs, XQD and SxS cards, as well as the world’s fastest SD card, while strengthening Sony’s position as a leader in professional memory solutions.

Step up to industry-leading write speeds

Professional photographers demand faster speed for continuous burst shooting of higher resolution images including RAW. With up to 510MB/s write speed, far outperforming the capabilities of existing CFast cards, Sony’s G Series supports high-speed burst shooting of high resolution RAW, maximizing the capability of high-end DSLR cameras like the Canon 1DX Mark 2.

Super-fast read speed for ultra-effective workflow

Efficient workflow is essential for professional photographers and videographers working in challenging environments on tight deadlines. With a blazing fast read speed of 530MB/s, Sony’s G Series CFast dramatically reduces the time it takes to transfer RAW files, long 4K video footage and high-resolution images to a PC.

Reliable 4K video recording with VPG130 support

As well as ultra-fast read and write speeds, the new CFast cards support VPG130 for reliable recording of Cinema-grade or high-bitrate 4K video. A minimum sustained write speed of 130MB/s is guaranteed, making the new media ideal for stable recording of professional grade 4K video, such as Cinema RAW light mode with Canon C200 video cameras.

Designed for strength and reliability

The new CFast cards have passed a variety of stringent drop, vibration, shock and rigidity tests, making them perfect for shooting in many different locations. They work reliably across a wide range of temperatures and are highly resistant to static. With a hard case and Sony File Rescue software, which is available when used with a card reader in a Removable Disk configuration, the cards can recover accidentally deleted photos such as RAW images and videos, allowing professionals to shoot with confidence in the toughest conditions.

Pricing and Availability

Sony’s G Series CFast cards are planned to be available in early 2018 for a suggested retail price of $119.99 for 32GB, $199.99 for 64GB and $349.99 for 128GB.

And by "wins" you mean "pays for it"? :)SATAIII - leading edge? :) That's weird. I thought it was mainstream for the last decade or so. Now, when it started fading away due to insufficient data transfer rates for todays actual leading edge products, it is being reintroduced for this (most likely very short) CFast afterlife.Well, I wouldn't complain if the price was more down to Earth. Which really is the only problem.

Except that this is the dead-end Compact-Flash-ish card format that Canon adopted. The future is the 2Gb/s CFexpress which uses XQD physical format and will be backwards compatible with XQD-equipped cameras. Not going to fit in a Canon, though.

... which uses PCIe 3.0, which is dated already, because PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 are coming soon. That's why I wouldn't invest in any of the "new" card formats (XQD, CFexpress or CFast) and keep using the good old CF (UDMA7) until the dust settles. Unless I'd really need that speed.

The silly part is that 2GB/s card doesn't really exist yet. And it would require 2 PCIe 3.0 lanes, while PCIe 5.0 will do 4GB/s with just one lane, which would require less power, less connection pins, produce less heat, and todays NVM technology allows to go beyond 3GB/s speeds already, with 1TB of memory per chip and growing.These XQD-ish transitional cards are pretty much DOA. They are just trying to milk as much money as possible, before the real thing arrives. What happened to the XQD and its "revolutionary" 10-year-old PCIe 2.0 technology? Is it "too little too late"? So is the PCIe 3.0 from 6 years ago. Can't you see the pattern?Think about it. Old tech shouldn't be such crazy expensive. All we need is a backwards compatible standard that will start the competition and lower the price. I paid $180 for 128GB SSD, 6 years ago. Now they are asking $200 for 64GB with this "new" CFast, which is basically the same SATAIII drive.

Yes, I can see the pattern. Tech gets cheaper and faster and becomes obsolete. And not buying the current fastest tech and continuing to use older slower tech because newer even faster tech is coming is perverse. Not buying it and continuing to use older tech because the fastest tech available could be even faster, but isn't is insane.

I'm talking about the implementation of a different memory card format in each new camera generation. And it is insanely annoying when they put two different slots, so that nobody is happy :). We'll have to choose from some kind of CFast/XQD/SDXC/CFex/UFS permutation combo. And a different one in each camera.The old CF is still fine for most tasks and it costs less. If you really need that 500MB/s speed, then you need a much larger capacity as well. If 128GB CFast is $350, then how much will they as for 1TB CFexpress? $2000-$3000? This is nuts! I'd take the UDMA7 CF Sandisk Extreme 256GB for $256 over this BS with no regrets.

Works great on the C200, how nice! I wish they also made a place in their camera where to put Cfast cards. Well, I guess canon makes lenses to adapt to their cameras so sony feels they need to reciprocate.

Sony makes imaging sensors for resale that they don't use in any of their own devices. It isn't unreasonable to think their semiconductor group will manufacture memory card formats that satisfy a market need, even if they don't apply to the rest of their product portfolio.

Sony has SD cards that are rated at 299 mb/s write speed which are even faster than Sandisk extreme pros that are only rated at 260mb/s. As ijm5012 said the cards are not the problem. Even The A7RIII and A9 have UHS I second card slots. A mind boggling choice particularly for the A9. Well more mind boggling for the A9 that is supposed to be Sony's pro sports cam is that it's not dual XQD instead and has no integrated grip with large battery and good ergonomics for big telephoto primes but I digress lol.

Josh the lack of two UHS-II card slots is really appalling. The cheaper Panasonic G9 has two UHS-II card slots . . . though it only just came on the market. It's difficult to believe that Sony couldn't have done it though . . . if they actually wanted to . . . in their $5,000 camera.

@SCottelly Sony is simply treating their camera system like an electronics gadget to squeeze as much money out of as possible like a PS4 and clearly doesn't understand the market for $4500 plus pro sports cameras at all.

And Sony is taking more and more money, they really don't care about customers, some people just lost they minds going after all new products from Sony, they will implement new cameras soon to adapt for this new card so people are obligated to invest more. Good play Sony

The only Japanese camera that cares about customers right now is Fuji.

I started with sony A6K and lens system was terribly at the time so I moved away from Sony.

It seems very strange to me that Sony would now start producing CFast cards, when the CFA (compact flash association) has given their backing to CFexpress as the format of the future.

Maybe Sony just wants to cash in on the CFast market while they can, while continuing to develop XQD/CFexpress for future applications? I love the XQD cards in my D500, and wish more cameras would use them

The fastest UHS-II SD cards are rated at 300 MB/s write speed, and measure at about 250 MB/s. Compare this to the fastest CFast 2.0 cards, which measure out at a max write speed of just under 400 MB/s, so more than 1.5x as fast.

What'll really make a difference is when we start seeing CFexpress cards supported and make their way to market, as they're not much bigger than SD cards, but can write at up to 8 GB/s if using all 8 lanes of the PCIe interface.

And to answer your question about backwards compatibility, no, CFast cards cannot be used in CF slots (another downside). Compare this to SD or XQD/CFexpress, which are backwards compatible, and I don't really know why Canon gravitated towards CFast in the first place.

Did you mean UHS-III ?10-20% faster max speeds and slow minimums is not how I see the future :). I hope that every future camera will have a super fast built-in storage (basically a large NVM buffer) and whatever suitable card slot for backup.

"As mentioned above, the cards boast a maximum write speed of 510MB/s, but more importantly they also guarantee a minimum sustained write speed of 130MB/s under the Video Performance Guarantee." - To me the 130 MB/s number is what counts, and UHS-II is there now . . . not at some point in the near future. SD cards can write at up to more than 200 MB/s according to this review: https://www.ephotozine.com/article/top-12-best-sd-memory-cards-tested-2017-17827

Are there some other cards that are a bit faster? Probably. Maybe some of these XQD cards or CFast cards are faster . . . for now. In no time there will be Micro-SD cards that are twice as fast though, because THAT is what people use in their phones. Smartphones are the driver for fast flash memory technology, and people who shoot 4K video on their smartphones are going to be buying the vast majority of memory cards . . . micro-SD cards. THAT is where manufacturers should concentrate their efforts. Micro-SD cards are king.

Look at THIS sick Sony memory card, capable of 300 MB/s read and write speeds . . . and in real world testing it sustains 81 MB/s in a Nikon D7500 and 91 MB/s in a Panasonic GH5, which people use to shoot 4K video all the time:

Dead memory card formats are a problem. I don't want to invest hundreds of dollars in a set of memory cards that aren't compatible with more than one or two items that I own, won't be available in the future, and will have no use for anything I will be buying in five years from now. Yes, there is weird, cutting-edge stuff that comes on the market and dies out all the time. I'll stick with micro-SD cards. Feel free to do your own research. Take a look at the speed of real, popular, compatible and affordable memory cards: https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com

@ScottellyWhat are you talking about ... There are no SD cards capable of 130MB/s minimum writes. SD are the worst at speed, durability and even performance per $$$. Which is why we still have good old CF. You are judging a "car" by its top speed, which rarely matters (if at all).

The ONLY reason we still have "good old" CF cards is stupid manufacturers keep on making cameras (and ONLY cameras) with CF card slots in them. It's about time they stop it and switch to SD cards (and not any of this other crap they're trying to sell). SOME manufacturers have embraced the standard memory card format . . . like Panasonic has with their G9 and Sigma has with ALL their Quattro cameras. Just about every other camera can use SD cards, including many of Nikon's and Canon's cameras. I think it's about time they all just admit that SD is the format of today and the future, and put the fastest UHS-II slots they can into their cameras. That way their cameras will be as future-proof as possible and work with memory cards that are compatible with almost all the devices out there. I use micro-SD cards in my cameras. They work reliably and quickly. There are at least ten times as many devices that use SD and micro-SD vs ALL the other devices out there.

SD can't handle the bitrate. Why switch? You can put SD into CF slot via an adapter anyways, or even two micro-SD cards into one CF slot.Do you realize that the "good old CF" can still handle 4k@60p, while they had to redesign the SD slot to make the UHS-II. Will they add even more contacts to the UHS-III ? Do you have any idea how UHS-iV will look like? The ONLY reason manufacturers still use SD is because they can be small, cheap and many people like it. Can't you see the messy pile of SD standards and classifications like SD SDHC SDXC ... UHS-I/II/III ... CLASS2/4/6/10/12 ... U1 U3 ... V30 V60 V90... No wonder why camera makers don't want to be involved in this BS. Because people will put crappy SD cards into their cameras and discover that they need to buy some newer kind of the supposedly "future-proof" format. Devices can use compatible memory cards, but there's no need for the "same" stupid SD slot in everything. Competition is good.

Who knows how this will play out. But I do not expect anyone who isn't now offering CFast cameras to make them in the future. Much more likely if a maker isn't already tied to CFast, that they'd choose CFexpress which the CF association has selected to replace both CFast and XQD, though it's basically XQD 3.0 and should be to some degree backwards compatible with XQD, same physical size, shape and have compatible PCI Express based signaling.

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